Book Review: The Swedish Immigrant Community in Transition: Essays in Honor of Dr. Conrad Bergendoff edited by J. Iverne Dowie and Ernest M. Espelie

BOOK REVIEWS
T H E S W E D I S H I M M I G R A N T C O M M U N I T Y I N T R A N S I T I O N:
Essays in Honor of Dr. Conrad Bergendoff. Edited by J. Iverne
Dowie and Ernest M . Espelie. Rock Island, Augustana Historical So­ciety,
1963. 246 pp. $4.95.
It is appropriate that one of the most distinguished of Swedish
Americans, Conrad Bergendoff, should be honored by the publication
of a series of essays that are marked by fine scholarship, catholicity,
and maturity in point of view.
The book is an indication that studies of the Swedish American
community have come of age. In place of the sentimental and nos­talgic
reminiscences that marked the writings of an earlier genera­tion,
these essays are marked by a scholarly spirit. Neither the phys­ical
hardships of the immigrants nor the isolated material successes
among them receive special attention. Instead the writers deal with
the rewarding questions of the social role of the Swedish language,
the attitudes toward American foreign relations, and the change in
outlook that marked the immigrant community after 1900 when ac­ceptance
by the American community began to take the place of
ridicule.
The change in scholarship is itself a significant reflection of what
has taken place. Sophistication and a broader view could not come
while the writers of immigrant history were themselves hemmed
in by problems peculiar to their community. The earlier leaders
were absorbed in the problems of establishing institutions, religious
and secular, that would serve their fellow Swedes. The issues they
confronted concerned the question of what should be incorporated
from the society around them and what should be preserved from
the Swedish heritage. Many cultivated a Swedish garden in the
heart of the American desert of strangeness. Preserving that garden
appeared to them all important; certainly it absorbed most of their
energies with the result that the broader issues of national and i n ­ternational
life eluded them. The central fact of their experience
was their decision to migrate. They affirmed the correctness of their
choice by remaining, but their private longings for the scenes of their
childhood could not be disregarded. Their churches, their lodges,
and their educational institutions met their need for the familiar. It
gave to them the niche in life from which they viewed the world.
177
The early writers on immigrant history wrote from the vantage point
of this niche.
The contributors to this volume write from a new niche. The lines
between the Swedish American community and the country at large
are down. The problems facing institutions established by the im­migrants
are the problems of Americans in general. The Augustana
Synod is no more. The language issue has long since been dead.
Even the old feud between Lutheran and Covenanter, as Karl Olsson
demonstrates in one of the finest of these essays, is of no significance.
The Swedish American community is fully incorporated into the
American community. There is little to be gained by assessing the
gains and losses in this development, but one of the gains is the
emancipation of scholars from trivial sentimentality and irrelevant
national feeling. This book is an important milestone in the gradual
change that has taken place in the writing of the history of the im­migrant.
PAUL A . VARG
M i c h i g a n S t a t e U n i v e r s i ty
S T R I N D B E R G AND T H E H I S T O R I C A L D R A M A . By Walter
Johnson. Seattle, University of Washington Press, 1963, 326 pp.
$650.
Contemporary acquaintance with the literary contribution of A u ­gust
Strindberg centers almost exclusively upon those plays that
speak most persistently to the "condition" of modern man: his es­trangement,
his lack of center, his longing and his despair. As early
as 1887 when T h e F a t h e r appeared, it was obvious that here was a
playwright with a keen, analytical mind who saw that many of man's
basic problems are located within the conflicts of soul and in the
flat contradictions of human personality. Hence, Strindberg has long
since been viewed as an outstanding dramatist of our division.
To end here, however, would be to ignore a very significant seg­ment
of his work, discussed fully and in a very scholarly manner by
Walter Johnson of the University of Washington in his latest book,
S t r i n d b e r g and t h e H i s t o r i c a l D r a m a . At the outset, Johnson re­minds
us that of Strindberg's plays "approximately one of every
three . . . is a historical drama, and at least a dozen of them merit
serious consideration by anyone who wants a fairly thorough knowl­edge
of modern drama." And indeed this book reflects "serious con­sideration"
of the history plays of Strindberg.
Johnson indicates quite thoroughly and without special pleading
the literary merits as well as the deficiencies of these plays and
shows how and why some are good theater and others are not. But
178

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BOOK REVIEWS
T H E S W E D I S H I M M I G R A N T C O M M U N I T Y I N T R A N S I T I O N:
Essays in Honor of Dr. Conrad Bergendoff. Edited by J. Iverne
Dowie and Ernest M . Espelie. Rock Island, Augustana Historical So­ciety,
1963. 246 pp. $4.95.
It is appropriate that one of the most distinguished of Swedish
Americans, Conrad Bergendoff, should be honored by the publication
of a series of essays that are marked by fine scholarship, catholicity,
and maturity in point of view.
The book is an indication that studies of the Swedish American
community have come of age. In place of the sentimental and nos­talgic
reminiscences that marked the writings of an earlier genera­tion,
these essays are marked by a scholarly spirit. Neither the phys­ical
hardships of the immigrants nor the isolated material successes
among them receive special attention. Instead the writers deal with
the rewarding questions of the social role of the Swedish language,
the attitudes toward American foreign relations, and the change in
outlook that marked the immigrant community after 1900 when ac­ceptance
by the American community began to take the place of
ridicule.
The change in scholarship is itself a significant reflection of what
has taken place. Sophistication and a broader view could not come
while the writers of immigrant history were themselves hemmed
in by problems peculiar to their community. The earlier leaders
were absorbed in the problems of establishing institutions, religious
and secular, that would serve their fellow Swedes. The issues they
confronted concerned the question of what should be incorporated
from the society around them and what should be preserved from
the Swedish heritage. Many cultivated a Swedish garden in the
heart of the American desert of strangeness. Preserving that garden
appeared to them all important; certainly it absorbed most of their
energies with the result that the broader issues of national and i n ­ternational
life eluded them. The central fact of their experience
was their decision to migrate. They affirmed the correctness of their
choice by remaining, but their private longings for the scenes of their
childhood could not be disregarded. Their churches, their lodges,
and their educational institutions met their need for the familiar. It
gave to them the niche in life from which they viewed the world.
177
The early writers on immigrant history wrote from the vantage point
of this niche.
The contributors to this volume write from a new niche. The lines
between the Swedish American community and the country at large
are down. The problems facing institutions established by the im­migrants
are the problems of Americans in general. The Augustana
Synod is no more. The language issue has long since been dead.
Even the old feud between Lutheran and Covenanter, as Karl Olsson
demonstrates in one of the finest of these essays, is of no significance.
The Swedish American community is fully incorporated into the
American community. There is little to be gained by assessing the
gains and losses in this development, but one of the gains is the
emancipation of scholars from trivial sentimentality and irrelevant
national feeling. This book is an important milestone in the gradual
change that has taken place in the writing of the history of the im­migrant.
PAUL A . VARG
M i c h i g a n S t a t e U n i v e r s i ty
S T R I N D B E R G AND T H E H I S T O R I C A L D R A M A . By Walter
Johnson. Seattle, University of Washington Press, 1963, 326 pp.
$650.
Contemporary acquaintance with the literary contribution of A u ­gust
Strindberg centers almost exclusively upon those plays that
speak most persistently to the "condition" of modern man: his es­trangement,
his lack of center, his longing and his despair. As early
as 1887 when T h e F a t h e r appeared, it was obvious that here was a
playwright with a keen, analytical mind who saw that many of man's
basic problems are located within the conflicts of soul and in the
flat contradictions of human personality. Hence, Strindberg has long
since been viewed as an outstanding dramatist of our division.
To end here, however, would be to ignore a very significant seg­ment
of his work, discussed fully and in a very scholarly manner by
Walter Johnson of the University of Washington in his latest book,
S t r i n d b e r g and t h e H i s t o r i c a l D r a m a . At the outset, Johnson re­minds
us that of Strindberg's plays "approximately one of every
three . . . is a historical drama, and at least a dozen of them merit
serious consideration by anyone who wants a fairly thorough knowl­edge
of modern drama." And indeed this book reflects "serious con­sideration"
of the history plays of Strindberg.
Johnson indicates quite thoroughly and without special pleading
the literary merits as well as the deficiencies of these plays and
shows how and why some are good theater and others are not. But
178